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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE Diaspora and Belonging in Panama: Cultural Performance and National Identity for Panamanians of Chinese DesCent A Dissertation submitted in partial satisfaCtion of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in MusiC by Corey MiChael Blake December 2019 Dissertation Committee: Dr. Jonathan Ritter, Chairperson Dr. Deborah Wong Dr. Lok C.D. Siu Dr. Helen Rees Dr. Liz Przybylski Copyright by Corey MiChael Blake 2019 The Dissertation of Corey MiChael Blake is approved: _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ Committee Chairperson University of California, Riverside Acknowledgments The completion of this projeCt is only possible through the support, guidance, and research opportunities provided by communities of colleagues, friends, family, and organizations both in the United States and in Panama. Here, I would like to give credit for the boundless generosity that made this manusCript a possibility. First, I owe a great debt of gratitude to friends and colleagues in Panama, none of whom I would have met Without the kindness and openness of Felipe Chong, who initially invited me to my first APROCHIPA event: Beto Carrillo and family, Chia Chan, Aura Lee, Carmen Wong, and Liliana Wong. Thank you for allowing me to tag along with you for various community events throughout the country and for making me feel welCome and part of the team. I am espeCially grateful for Felipe’s friendship, despite my persistent questioning and intervieWing, and although I only barely survived our hiking trip through Los Chorros, I deeply appreCiated being welComed along. I would also like to extend a huge thanks to Berta AliCia Chen for providing me With literature and insight about the community, Ana Chung for being so welComing and insightful for various aspeCts of this research, Jose Chang and Miguel Loo for allowing me to experience the talents of your Lion Dance groups in Panama City and for granting me permission to use your photos, Mario Chung for providing me with deep insight into the musiCal life and local identity of Panamanians of Chinese desCent, and Daniella Espinosa for being my first intervieW and supportive of my research from my first steps in Panama. I would further like to thank Juan Tam, who has been an ardent supporter, advisor, and mentor to me since well before this projeCt began. None of this would have iv been possible for me without your initial support baCk in 2015. To Brenda Lau, I am eternally grateful to you for you allowing me to aCCess and be a part of some of your family’s private karaoke sessions and for the knowledge I was able to gain in these moments. Thank you for being willing to disCuss your musiC with me and for providing validation for my research. I am partiCularly grateful to my dissertation committee: Jonathan Ritter, Deborah Wong, Liz Przybylski. Lok Siu, and Helen Rees. Thank you for providing me with a high standard of research excellence of whiCh to aspire and for being willing to dediCate your time and guidance to me in order to make this projeCt sucCessful. EaCh of your respeCtive research areas and expertise proves to be a crucial element for my own research and I am grateful that you are willing to be a part of my aCademiC journey. The staff at the Fulbright Institute of International Education, thank you for granting me the freedom and independence to conduct this research through financial support. Additionally, thank you to the U.S. Embassy in Panama staff who supported me through logistiCal aspeCts of international research and through a genuine interest and engagement with my study: former-Ambassador to Panama John D. Feeley, Chargé d’Affaires a.i. Roxanne Cabral, Sarah Ferguson, Dalys DeGraCia, and FrancisCo “PaCo” Perez. To my fellow Fulbrighter Tova Katzman, I am so grateful for your friendship, emotional support, and the many moments We were able to share, disCuss, and theorize eaCh other’s research while also alleviating some of the homesiCkness from long-term international research. v Thank you to the UCR Center for Ideas and Society for the financial support for this research through the Humanities Graduate Research Grant. Additional thanks go out to all of my faCulty, colleagues, and friends at UCR who provided endless motivation, support, and guidance in the preliminary phases of this research: Paula Propst, Claudine Avalos, JessiCa Gutierrez Masini, Elizabeth Stela, Yuki Proulx, Cuauhtémoc Dante Lauren, Christine Gailey, Hyejin Nah, and Xóchitl Chávez. Thank you to my family both in Panama and in the United States. To JaCkeline LasCano, Jesús Aguilar, and mi primito Jesús Aguilar LasCano, thank you for providing me more than just a shelter, but a home during my time in Panama. The family moments have been etChed into my heart forever and I look forward to the memories we will Continue to make in the future. To my parents, brother, grandparents, nieCes/nepheWs, and cousins, thank you for a lifetime of love and encouragement and for alWays supporting my dreams. Without this, I would not be where I am today. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to my friends both near and far who supported me with encouragement, love, positivity, and care paCkages: Shana Vernon, Lynn Atkins, Kathleen Dooley, and C. Paige Porter. Finally, I would like to thank my fiancé William Shannon O’Bryan for providing me the strength and motivation to complete this dissertation through your endless love, support, and aCCountability throughout the duration of both my fieldwork and the writing process. vi This dissertation is dediCated to William Robert Blake, Jr. (1937 – 2018) Dina Marisol LasCano (1982 – 2018) Carrie Marie Blake (1988 – 2018) vii ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION From Diaspora to Belonging: Cultural Performance and National Identity for Panamanians of Chinese DesCent by Corey MiChael Blake Doctor of Philosophy, Graduate Program in MusiC University of California, Riverside, December 2019 Dr. Jonathan Ritter, Chairperson The first Chinese migrants arrived in modern-day Panama aboard the clipper Sea Witch in April of 1854. In their first steps on what was then known as NeW Granada, they arrived as laborers to work on the Panama Railroad, a projeCt commissioned by the United States to help transport wealth aCCumulated from the California Gold Rush that Was taking plaCe at the time. Since their arrival, waves of migrations have ocCurred over the past century and a half. With eaCh wave of migration, people bring with them their own customs and ideals, of whiCh musiC and dance are of great importance. This research makes evident the importance of Chinese presence in Panamanian culture and society. As one of the largest Chinese diasporas within Latin AmeriCa, the case of Chinese Panamanians provides a compelling case study for understanding the sociopolitiCal Consequences of being ethniCally Asian within a Latin AmeriCan context. viii In this dissertation, I argue that cultural performances through musiC and dance Construct, maintain, and express unique biCultural, transnational, and often shifting identities to assert belonging through difference as Panamanians of Chinese desCent Continue to redefine and negotiate notions of Panamanian nationhood. Central throughout this projeCt, cultural performance through musiC, dance, religious worship, and sporting events beComes an important tool for validating and asserting a Panamanian national identity in light of a long history of marginalization. By incorporating Chinese art forms into the most meaningful personal and nationalistiC moments of their lives, Chineseness no longer beComes a symbol of what is not Panamanian, but instead beComes a representation of what Panamanian can be. In doing so, this community deConstructs the barriers of national identity that have historiCally marginalized them in very openly hostile ways. A result of ten months of ethnographiC fieldwork in Panama City, Panama betWeen September 2017 and July 2018, this dissertation explores issues of diaspora, belonging, and nationhood for Chinese Panamanians and Panamanians of Chinese desCent and the complexities inherent in performative expressions of identity in situating national belonging, validation, and reCognition of such identities in the Panamanian national imaginary. ix Table of Contents ACknowledgements.............................................................................................................iv AbstraCt.............................................................................................................................viii List of Illustrations.............................................................................................................xii Note on Audio and Video Examples..................................................................................xiv List of Video Examples......................................................................................................xv Chapter 1 – Introduction...................................................................................................1 Theory and Literature...............................................................................................5 Mestizaje......................................................................................................5 Panamanian MusiCal Identity.......................................................................9
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